Nearly a month since NYSC corps member Miss. Linda Obi Chiamaka was kidnapped by terrorists in Zungeru, Niger state, the federal government, the management of the National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) have been tasked to quickly secure her freedom without further delay. The prominent civil Rights advocacy Group: Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) which made the demand also appealed to the Wife of the Nigerian President Mrs. Remi Tinubu to intervene so as to secure the rapid release of the abducted female corper.

Miss. Linda, a graduate of the Federal Polytechnic Nekede, was posted by the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Commission to Dalijan village in Gwandu Local Government Area of Kebbi State just as on Saturday, November 2, 2023, Linda was abducted by bandits while traveling back home from her Passing Out Parade (POP) along the Niger-Onitsha Expressway.

HURIWA recalled that the tragic incident occurred at Zungeru, where she, along with a family comprising a father, mother, and two children, was kidnapped. One male passenger was tragically shot and killed, while Linda and others were anducted.

In a media statement by the National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, HURIWA has also expressed shock that Nigerian youth who participate in the year- long national service are still being sent to such dangerous flashpoints of terrorism and heightened insecurity such as Kebbi State just as the Rights group argued that it is incumbent on the management of the NYSC to work vigorously to ensure that their corper is released quickly.

HURIWA specifically noted that the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria should as a matter of urgency direct the National Security Adviser Mallam Nuhu Ribadu to ably coordinate the security initiative and immediate rescue operation to free Miss Chiamaka Obi Linda from the strangle hold and stronghold of the dare- devil terrorists.

The rights group urged the kidnappers to free the youngster who dedicated the entire year after her graduation to serve the good people of Kebbi State and to gain awareness about the cultural peculiarities of Northern Nigeria as someone from the Igbo speaking Ethnicity of South East of Nigeria.

“This young lady is absolutely a good Nigerian who picked up courage to accept her posting to the North West even when the reality showed that when she opted to resume in Kebbi State, the North West of Nigeria has become the hotbed of insecurity in Nigeria. We also call on the Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives who is from the North West and the governor of Kebbi State to kindly put measures in place to gain the immediate freedom of Linda Chiamaka Obi from her abductors.”

“Whilst we appeal to the minister of youth development, the Director General of the NYSC to rise to the occasion and quicken the release of this corper who was kidnapped on her way back to the South East from Kebbi state after her passing out parade, we think the NYSC as a national institution, must as a matter of policy, blacklist such states as Kebbi, Katsina , Zamfara and a large part of Sokoto from the jurisdictions whereby youngsters are sent from NYSC for their yearly service due to the uncontrollable insecurity and the emergence of the new terrorist group: “Lakurawas”